Miami Heat 78, San Antonio Spurs 108: The Early Edition

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The Spurs celebrated the arrival of a new year by putting on what may have been their most dominant performance of the season, defeating the Heat by 30 points. I’ve got a little celebrating to do myself but I wanted to make a few quick observations. I’ll be back tomorrow morning (or, depending on the amount of celebrating I do, afternoon) with more thoughts on tonight’s game and an important announcement.

Headed into the fourth quarter, the score was 86-62. The Spurs held the Heat to only 13 third quarter points while simultaneously scoring 28 and making the action in the fourth practically irrelevant. Typically, when the Spurs are winning by double digits and on pace for a 100 point game, the team has been having a very productive night from beyond the arc. But at the end of the third? We were 2 of 9 from 3-point range. 80 of our 86 points had come inside the arc. There has always been a strong correlation between our perimeter shooting and our win column. This evening was a dramatic outlier.

During his post-game interview, Pop dampened my excitement by noting what a hard fought contest Miami’s Wednesday night game against New Orleans was.

“I think we caught a break because [Miami] had a tough game last night,” Said Pop. “They had to expend a lot of energy against New Orleans. To play again tonight is tough.”

Given that my success rate in post-game interviews has been pretty low, I chose to let this press session pass without asking Coach Pop a question. (But I got some really interesting comments from Pop before the game that I’ll share tomorrow).

Have fun and be safe ringing in the New Year. Go Spurs.

  • wannabe_fan

    Except for Beasley, the Heat looked tired and disinterested. That being said, nice way to close out the year.

    I hope Barkley didn’t jinx us…I heard him say at least twice “the Spurs are the 2nd best team in the West”. shhhh!!! Keep a lid on that talk till April.

  • Dr. Love

    Sooo, anyone have a URL for Saturday night’s game?

  • silver&black_take5

    good job spurs. Good job!

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  • doggydogworld

    Even Beasley looked pretty tired and disinterested after Haislip blocked his shot from behind. Looked like he thought seriously about spending the rest of the game lying on the floor.

    Couldn’t believe Spoelstra had so many starters playing deep into the fourth.

  • SpurredOn

    Excellent win; another game where TD need not play the 4th quarter though his full box score would make you think different.

    Very gracious of Pop to point of that Miami was on a back-to-back. It certainly has an impact but should be noted, for comparison sake, that the Heat were also on the back end of a b2b when they played @ the Lakers in early December. They outplayed LA and were a missed Wade FT from putting it away, only to lose by one at the buzzer. Spurs have it going, let’s ride it into the new year.

  • http://www.poundingtherock.com Wayne

    You chicken!

  • junierizzle

    OH YEAH!

    It looks like the SPURS are getting it together.
    Be honest, you thought they would let the HEAT cut it to one in the 3rd. I know I was hoping they wouldn’t tank after the half.
    I hadn’t realized that the SPURS didn’t even make that many 3’s. That’s a good sign.
    The Heat did play a back to back, but still getting blown out by 30. The Spurs did something right.

    They are starting to look more consistent and the turnovers are coming down. Hopefully they get into a groove these next few games, because they are winnable. They should be solid for their biggest game of the season coming up against the MAVS.

  • SpursfanSteve

    Graydon, i’m obsessively curious. What is this important announcement? I’ve probably checked back every hour all day today. You’re killin me, dude.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Graydon Gordian

    SpursfanSteve,

    I apologize dude. I pushed off the important announcement til Monday. I had this whole plan where I was gonna wake up early and be productive today. Then I woke up and, well, it was New Years Day. So I just chilled out. Sorry ’bout that.

  • SpursfanSteve

    haha. that is completely reasonable. My day was kind of similar. I took out the trash and picked up the remains of our family firework display. Gotta love being home for the holidays. Hope you had a good one.

  • mikrobass

    possibly related question: it appears that the spurs are 10-3 since finley went out and 5-1 since bonner went out. they also seem to be playing at a quicker pace with better athletes on the floor. are they really that much improved when finely and bonner don’t play (or don’t need to play), even though the 3-point shooting may suffer?

  • bigtee34

    I’ve been thinking the same thing. we are relying more on defense and not our three point shooting. we are also stronger I think on the defensive end without bonner.

  • Rick

    I think it may have more to do with forcing a more consistent rotation. With those two out, it frees up minutes for the newer guys, and has given them the court time to work some of the kinks as they try to fit in.